Thibs will take his 20 games to futz around but the outlines are there. I’ll raise the first set of concerns about Shamet, who is exactly the kind of player Thibs tends to play too many minutes (undersized, scrappy, ballsy, no upside but functioning floor) and I want his time to go to development. I also want to get more size - am hoping the Bubble Boy brings it when/if he plays. But I’ll push back in one thing Jon - I will absolutely remember Kolek launching a 3 within seconds of getting in the game without conscience or concern. On a fucking a Thibs team! That kid will be in the rotation by all-star game at the latest.
Starters definitely looked rusty and obviously need a lot of reps to develop chemistry. I wouldn’t be shocked at all if we didn’t get off to the greatest start but I wouldn’t be worried. Things I noticed tho
1. Hart seemed a little unsure where to stand at times on offense, and very hesitant to shoot. I think teams are going to exaggerate even more bc of the other guys on the floor how open they leave him at the 3 point line, potentially treating him like a non shooting big man until he makes them pay for it.
2. OG had an easy swing pass that would’ve created a wide open mikal 3 on a play with maybe our best ball movement but he had a guy closing out on him hard and he drew a foul. Would like to see him make that play.
3. Brunson ran a pick n roll with KAT and KAT popped to the 3 point line while the center played drop and his defender was on his back, leaving KAT wide open. Took him a few too many dribbles to find him, he’ll have to get used to making that read faster.
4. KAT had some really nice passes to cutters and overall just moves the ball quick and makes the right reads. Feels like a guy that just knows the game at a very high level.
5. Mikal wasn’t getting involved much on the offensive end, I’m sure that’ll be more of an emphasis next game but I think he’s probably the guy you put with the bench unit to get him more on ball reps and shots.
Overall very exciting, was weird seeing these guys all out there when I think back to 2 years ago going to an early season game in Detroit where we started
Brunson
Grimes
Rj
Randle
Robinson
And our bench was d rose, iq, cam reddish and hartenstein
Feels like a completely new team and they are going to need time so id stress patience as hard as that will be
Charlotte double-teamed Brunson whenever possible. The watched what Philadelphia and Indiana did during the playoffs. Once Kat and JB develop greater pick-n-roll chemistry, doubling JB will be harder. Charlotte often left Hart alone, daring him to shoot. After one or two misses beyond the arc, he was reluctant to shoot. Josh must find a way to contribute more to the offense beyond rebounding missed shots. I expect Bridges to see greater opportunites going forward. The starting 5 is a work in progress, but should get substantively better as the season unfolds.
I’m the biggest Josh hart fan. My only concern is that the best teams, especially come playoff time, will just put their center on him and stand in the paint, leaving him wide open. Then the whole 5 out spacing we just traded for isn’t really a 5 out spacing, and the one guy who can’t shoot isn’t even giving us the rim protection/ rim running of a typical center. I get the concerns on the glass of starting deuce but I think overall bringing hart as 6th man is potentially the best move. I get the argument that you want to start your best 5 and develop the most chemistry of the unit that’s gonna be closing playoff games. I want hart out there for that, but I’d like to see him shooting the ball when he’s wide open with no hesitation and hitting above 35%. If he’s going to be treated as a center who can’t shoot, are we sure he should still be starting/closing?
Shamet may be an option as the or 3 guard alternating with Bridges--and Hart would come off the bench. I like what Kolek could bring to the 2nd unit as point guard with Deuce as the shooting guard. Kolek must improve his defense, but Hart on the 2nd unit could help out. Sims and Precious can be effective as a tandem on defense; Kolek may be able to find Sims for lobs and Precious for short shots in the paint. If Robinson can return healthy, Thibs may play him with Kat at the 4 and Bridges moves to the 2nd unit. Leon will want Robinson showcased before a potential trade.
The Mikal Bridges nugget - first from Bobby Marks and now from Marc Stein - remains an interesting wrinkle to me. Again, I get the value of waiting until next offseason so he can ink a bigger/longer deal, but I'll be watching him closely this season. His ideal role is probably what it is now - a third option with major defensive assignments - but I'm hoping we find ways to let him cook here and there, too.
They're going to figure it out, but it'll take time. Macri, please preach patience to the fanbase from the jump! Incorporating Bridges and KAT at once - while playing a pretty brutal opening 10 - is not going to be easy. My hope is that they start to get rolling by December.
I’m so with you on not over indexing on the first 20 games. By now we know that with Thibs it gets better as the season goes on and he needs time to experiment both in games and behind the scenes.
I will add to Phil’s question with another Shamet question. If McBride is the second team shooting guard and one of Kolek or Cam is the PG is Shamet not enough to get his rotation minutes as a SF. I loved what I saw from Shamet but that is a real small unit out there, particularly without a Mitch type center.
That’s what makes me think OG will be the starter to play with them, but leaving all 3 of Brunson mikal and KAT off the floor at the same time doesn’t seem smart and we probably need mikals creation out there. It’ll be a small unit that’s gonna have to play very fast and get up a ton of 3s, which they can do well
Jonathan, I heard Thibs say that Shamet is very good defensively and way underrated in that area. Conversely, I have read analysts say that he is a sieve defensively. What do u think?
I think it's going to take the team awhile to adjust to the concept of how to play with spacing / cutting. But, just seeing KAT launch 5 3's last night was awesome. The iHart / Mitch tandem launched a grand total of 3 during the entire 82 game regular season. Everyone who played last night other than OG and Jericho took at least 1 three and we know OG is a good 3 point shooter. So, the nine man rotation, assuming Sims is out, could feature 9 at least willing 3 pt shooters with only Hart and Precious being not great shooters. I am not a fan of Cam Payne and thought Kolek was better. But, I guess Thibs will make Kolek earn it.
Seeing how Jericho played, I get why we were desperate to trade for a center. Very happy we went for KAT over Walker Kessler. He can protect rim but is big, slow and can't shoot or space the floor. If he could do any of that, the Jazz wouldn't be looking to trade him. I would prefer to try to trade Jericho and a couple 2rps to Portland for Duop Reath who made 88 of 245 3's last year from the 5.
I would prefer to keep Mitch as Embiid insurance. But, if we are going to trade him, I think Jonas Valanciunus is a reasonable target. He's getting a little old but is big, is not injury prone, and takes 3's.
Don't understand / believe the Marcus Smart chatter. He's old, injury prone, short, can't shoot and has a big contract. He was a great leader and defender for the Celtics but we have Brunson / Hart for that.
Final thought, unless Pacome is injured, I'm concerned we have an emerging Cam Reddish situation here with Thibs. I get that the plan is probably to develop him in Westchester. But, it's insane that our first round pick can't get on the court in preseason.
I would push back on the insanity of a 19-year-old riding the bench. It's totally fine on a team looking to win a ring. Hell, there are bad teams that don't play 19-year-olds.
Thibs will take his 20 games to futz around but the outlines are there. I’ll raise the first set of concerns about Shamet, who is exactly the kind of player Thibs tends to play too many minutes (undersized, scrappy, ballsy, no upside but functioning floor) and I want his time to go to development. I also want to get more size - am hoping the Bubble Boy brings it when/if he plays. But I’ll push back in one thing Jon - I will absolutely remember Kolek launching a 3 within seconds of getting in the game without conscience or concern. On a fucking a Thibs team! That kid will be in the rotation by all-star game at the latest.
You and me will remember that Ben. But we are not normal.
Starters definitely looked rusty and obviously need a lot of reps to develop chemistry. I wouldn’t be shocked at all if we didn’t get off to the greatest start but I wouldn’t be worried. Things I noticed tho
1. Hart seemed a little unsure where to stand at times on offense, and very hesitant to shoot. I think teams are going to exaggerate even more bc of the other guys on the floor how open they leave him at the 3 point line, potentially treating him like a non shooting big man until he makes them pay for it.
2. OG had an easy swing pass that would’ve created a wide open mikal 3 on a play with maybe our best ball movement but he had a guy closing out on him hard and he drew a foul. Would like to see him make that play.
3. Brunson ran a pick n roll with KAT and KAT popped to the 3 point line while the center played drop and his defender was on his back, leaving KAT wide open. Took him a few too many dribbles to find him, he’ll have to get used to making that read faster.
4. KAT had some really nice passes to cutters and overall just moves the ball quick and makes the right reads. Feels like a guy that just knows the game at a very high level.
5. Mikal wasn’t getting involved much on the offensive end, I’m sure that’ll be more of an emphasis next game but I think he’s probably the guy you put with the bench unit to get him more on ball reps and shots.
Overall very exciting, was weird seeing these guys all out there when I think back to 2 years ago going to an early season game in Detroit where we started
Brunson
Grimes
Rj
Randle
Robinson
And our bench was d rose, iq, cam reddish and hartenstein
Feels like a completely new team and they are going to need time so id stress patience as hard as that will be
My oh my, how times have changed...
Charlotte double-teamed Brunson whenever possible. The watched what Philadelphia and Indiana did during the playoffs. Once Kat and JB develop greater pick-n-roll chemistry, doubling JB will be harder. Charlotte often left Hart alone, daring him to shoot. After one or two misses beyond the arc, he was reluctant to shoot. Josh must find a way to contribute more to the offense beyond rebounding missed shots. I expect Bridges to see greater opportunites going forward. The starting 5 is a work in progress, but should get substantively better as the season unfolds.
I’m the biggest Josh hart fan. My only concern is that the best teams, especially come playoff time, will just put their center on him and stand in the paint, leaving him wide open. Then the whole 5 out spacing we just traded for isn’t really a 5 out spacing, and the one guy who can’t shoot isn’t even giving us the rim protection/ rim running of a typical center. I get the concerns on the glass of starting deuce but I think overall bringing hart as 6th man is potentially the best move. I get the argument that you want to start your best 5 and develop the most chemistry of the unit that’s gonna be closing playoff games. I want hart out there for that, but I’d like to see him shooting the ball when he’s wide open with no hesitation and hitting above 35%. If he’s going to be treated as a center who can’t shoot, are we sure he should still be starting/closing?
Shamet may be an option as the or 3 guard alternating with Bridges--and Hart would come off the bench. I like what Kolek could bring to the 2nd unit as point guard with Deuce as the shooting guard. Kolek must improve his defense, but Hart on the 2nd unit could help out. Sims and Precious can be effective as a tandem on defense; Kolek may be able to find Sims for lobs and Precious for short shots in the paint. If Robinson can return healthy, Thibs may play him with Kat at the 4 and Bridges moves to the 2nd unit. Leon will want Robinson showcased before a potential trade.
The Mikal Bridges nugget - first from Bobby Marks and now from Marc Stein - remains an interesting wrinkle to me. Again, I get the value of waiting until next offseason so he can ink a bigger/longer deal, but I'll be watching him closely this season. His ideal role is probably what it is now - a third option with major defensive assignments - but I'm hoping we find ways to let him cook here and there, too.
They're going to figure it out, but it'll take time. Macri, please preach patience to the fanbase from the jump! Incorporating Bridges and KAT at once - while playing a pretty brutal opening 10 - is not going to be easy. My hope is that they start to get rolling by December.
I’m so with you on not over indexing on the first 20 games. By now we know that with Thibs it gets better as the season goes on and he needs time to experiment both in games and behind the scenes.
I’m so freaking excited about this season!
I will add to Phil’s question with another Shamet question. If McBride is the second team shooting guard and one of Kolek or Cam is the PG is Shamet not enough to get his rotation minutes as a SF. I loved what I saw from Shamet but that is a real small unit out there, particularly without a Mitch type center.
That’s what makes me think OG will be the starter to play with them, but leaving all 3 of Brunson mikal and KAT off the floor at the same time doesn’t seem smart and we probably need mikals creation out there. It’ll be a small unit that’s gonna have to play very fast and get up a ton of 3s, which they can do well
Jonathan, I heard Thibs say that Shamet is very good defensively and way underrated in that area. Conversely, I have read analysts say that he is a sieve defensively. What do u think?
Not sure if this says more about me or Macri that he might be the one to get me to finally download tic tok. GMAC is no longer on my Christmas list 😂
I think it's going to take the team awhile to adjust to the concept of how to play with spacing / cutting. But, just seeing KAT launch 5 3's last night was awesome. The iHart / Mitch tandem launched a grand total of 3 during the entire 82 game regular season. Everyone who played last night other than OG and Jericho took at least 1 three and we know OG is a good 3 point shooter. So, the nine man rotation, assuming Sims is out, could feature 9 at least willing 3 pt shooters with only Hart and Precious being not great shooters. I am not a fan of Cam Payne and thought Kolek was better. But, I guess Thibs will make Kolek earn it.
Seeing how Jericho played, I get why we were desperate to trade for a center. Very happy we went for KAT over Walker Kessler. He can protect rim but is big, slow and can't shoot or space the floor. If he could do any of that, the Jazz wouldn't be looking to trade him. I would prefer to try to trade Jericho and a couple 2rps to Portland for Duop Reath who made 88 of 245 3's last year from the 5.
I would prefer to keep Mitch as Embiid insurance. But, if we are going to trade him, I think Jonas Valanciunus is a reasonable target. He's getting a little old but is big, is not injury prone, and takes 3's.
Don't understand / believe the Marcus Smart chatter. He's old, injury prone, short, can't shoot and has a big contract. He was a great leader and defender for the Celtics but we have Brunson / Hart for that.
Final thought, unless Pacome is injured, I'm concerned we have an emerging Cam Reddish situation here with Thibs. I get that the plan is probably to develop him in Westchester. But, it's insane that our first round pick can't get on the court in preseason.
I would push back on the insanity of a 19-year-old riding the bench. It's totally fine on a team looking to win a ring. Hell, there are bad teams that don't play 19-year-olds.
Reath would be awesome. A tough get, as the Blazers love him. But a great target